The present invention relates to a device for connecting connection elements into housings of connectors, and to a machine for automatically connecting said connection elements.
More particularly, the device in accordance with the invention is intended for plugging male or female pins which are mounted beforehand, generally by crimping, on the ends of the conductors of electrical cables, into the corresponding receiving housings of connectors which may be of varied shapes, such as circular, rectangular, or some other shape, and of which the operation of plugging in or inserting the pins is usually carried out via their rear transverse face.
The field of aeronautics constitutes a preferred application of the connecting device and of the automatic machine of the invention. Indeed, the multitude of electrical cables which are intended, via specific connectors, to join up the various apparatus and equipment of the aircraft in order to ensure correct operation thereof, involves numerous operations prior to connecting the pins, which terminate the conductors of said cables, in the corresponding housings of the specific connectors in order thereafter to constitute wiring looms or harnesses. The connectors of each loom, which are equipped with the pins, are then engaged in complementary connectors provided on the equipment or on other looms.
Of course, the connecting device and machine according to the invention could apply to other industrial fields, for example the automobile field, whenever numerous connections between connection elements and connectors are to be made.
There is already known, especially from the Publication of French Patent 2 681 987 of the Applicant Company, such a device for connecting the pins, crimped onto the stripped ends of electrical cables, into the corresponding housings of connectors. This device and the machine which is equipped therewith in particular make it possible to reduce manual intervention, to prevent the risks of errors in the choice between the various pins, the insertion tools available and the connections into the housings of connectors. In order to do this, the device comprises:
a body which can be moved in the direction of said connector; PA1 an insertion tool which is associated, via removable linkage means, with said body and is provided with means for gripping said connection element to be introduced into the corresponding housing of the connector; and PA1 means for controlling the opening or closure of the gripping means, which are associated with said body and respectively allow the connection element to be connected to be mounted in said tool, then said tool to be withdrawn after said element has been connected into the housing of the connector, or said element to be held during its insertion into said housing. PA1 a supporting structure on which said connectors may be accommodated; PA1 moving equipment linked to said supporting structure and capable of moving along the three axes of an orthonormal reference frame; PA1 at least one connecting device which comprises a body carried by said moving equipment, and an insertion tool which is associated, removably, with said body; PA1 an area for changing said tools, which are chosen as a function of the geometric characteristics of said elements to be connected; and PA1 a programmable control unit, containing data relating to the various connections to be made as a function of the connection elements and of the housings of the connectors, and capable of controlling said moving equipment and said connecting device. PA1 of a head mounted so that it can slide along the axis OZ of said reference frame, parallel to said housings of said connectors, and carrying, in its extension, said connecting device; PA1 of a slide on which said head is located and which is mounted so that it can slide along the axis OY of said reference frame; and PA1 of a beam on which said slide can move and which is mounted so that it can slide along the axis OX of said reference frame on two guide rails which are fixed to said supporting structure.
This device described in the abovementioned patent application gives satisfactory and even excellent results, especially compared with the prior manual-insertion tools but, however, again owing to the considerable number of connections to be made (several thousand on a helicopter, for example), difficult or even defective connections may arise which are due essentially to geometric errors between the pin and the housing.
In fact, a first orientation error may arise when the longitudinal axis of the pin, corresponding to that of the tool, is angularly offset with respect to the axis of the housing, so that the pin is introduced into the housing slightly askew, with the risk of it coming into abutment in an internal shoulder of this housing, or of deforming too much. A second positioning error may equally result from the fact that the axis of the pin is then offset parallel to the axis of said housing, so that its end abuts against the entrance edge of the housing, preventing the connection, or, in the best of cases, as a result of the insertion force, ends up becoming deformed in order to engage into the housing.
It is furthermore appropriate to mention, owing to the fact that connection takes place without guidance (especially absence of a chamfer in the entrance edge of the housings), the risks of the pin becoming immobilized at various points, for example at the internal shoulder which is provided in the housing and against which the collar of the pin usually is applied after it has got through an elastic sleeve allowing it to be held axially in the connected position. Such risks of immobilization, corresponding to hard spots encountered during the introduction of the pin, quite often lead to insertion failure.